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How could he be so stupid?He’d gotten too reckless. Years spent working with Overwatch was the cause of that. Back then, Genji’s injuries hadn’t mattered as long as he still accomplished his mission, and whenever he had managed to get hurt along the way, Angela had been right there to patch him up. Whatever was wrong with his cybernetic body, she could fix it. He still remembered the look she’d had on her face when he entered her lab carrying his severed arm; it reminded him of the way Hanzo had looked at him after he accidentally broke one of his older brother’s toys.Genji wondered if he’d ever been more to Angela than an expensive project that she didn’t want to lose.But now, Angela wasn't here. Genji had left her and Overwatch behind without thinking of the possible consequences. He'd gotten himself injured once again, but no one was at his side to repair his body; not even Genji himself knew how his body worked. He could barely even tell where he was hurt. He felt pain in all his remaining muscles, and even his cybernetics seemed to ache. Was that possible?His feet kept slipping away in the snow, Genji barely able to keep his balance as he kept going higher onto the mountain. He was leaving a small trail of blood behind him, a bright contrast against the white. Where was he going again? He couldn’t remember. Had he even known in the first place?Low body temperature. Left arm malfunction. Faulty wiring in his lower back. Right lung disconnected. Internal bleeding. Gash in his arm; the one that was still human. Fluid stuck between his armour plates (blood and snow, Genji assumed).A regular human would be dead already.The flashing warnings in his visor were the only indicator Genji had, but he didn’t know what to do about any of them. He wondered if he could turn them off; the lights were giving him a headache.“Greetings.”The cyborg visibly startled and turned around, unsheathing his wakizashi with his left arm, which almost made him scream in pain. He instead managed to just let out a hiss, the vents in his body opening in response to let out heat. Body temperature dropping. The lights in his visor burned even brighter, but he looked past them at the stranger in front of him, weakly pointing his weapon at him.An omnic had snuck up behind him. Genji definitely hadn’t expected to meet one out here in the middle of nowhere. The only omnics he’d ever seen were the ones bought by his father to serve the Shimada family all those years ago, but Genji had never bothered to talk to any of them.This one looked different than the ones Genji could remember. He was wearing wide orange pants decorated with ropes and beads, and he was actually levitating, his legs casually folded underneath him – no wonder Genji hadn’t heard him approach. Nine orbs were slowly circling around the robot’s thin neck, emitting a soft golden glow; Genji found himself mesmerized by them for a small moment before recollecting himself.“Don’t get any closer,” Genji snarled, choosing to speak in English because he doubted anyone in this area knew Japanese. “Why are you following me?”Surprisingly, the omnic respectfully distanced himself from Genji before speaking again.“It wasn’t my intention to follow you. I was just passing by and our paths seem to have crossed,” he spoke calmly. He didn’t seem the slightest bit threatened by Genji pointing a sword at him.Genji lowered his weapon, but only to switch it to his uninjured arm before aiming it at the omnic once again, steadier this time. The gesture didn’t go unnoticed.“You’re hurt,” the omnic said, slowly moving the tiniest bit closer to the cyborg. “What happened?”“It’s none of your concern,” Genji snapped, looking down at his injured arm. His insides still felt like they were burning, and breathing took more difficulty than he’d like to admit. At long last, he was able to turn off the bright warnings in his visor, and his headache softened a little.“I can heal you,” the omnic said. Genji’s head shot back up at that, instantly mad at himself for showing such emotion at the statement.“The Shambali monastery is not far from here. It is where I live,” the omnic continued calmly, earning an unseen glare from the cyborg in front of him. An omnic monk? Was this some sort of joke? “If you’re willing to join me there, I am certain I can heal you.”‘Heal’, not ‘repair’. The omnic knew he was human, although Genji didn’t know how. Genji looked nothing like a human. The armour covered his entire body; his face was safely hidden away behind the green visor; his voice was so heavily synthezised that it sounded unfamiliar to Genji’s own ears – if he’d been in the omnic’s shoes, he would’ve guessed omnic.With a scoff, Genji sheathed his wakizashi – which looked a lot clumsier when he was forced to use his right arm – and turned away from the monk, continuing in the direction he’d been stumbling before the interruption. He hadn’t even taken more than a few steps when he was stopped once again.“You’re headed in the wrong direction.”Genji managed a laugh at that, although it sounded more like another scoff. “What do you mean by that?”“You're going farther up the mountain. With the injured state you are in, you won’t make it very far. To survive, I would suggest coming to the monastery with me,” the omnic repeated his previous request, still sounding infuriatingly calm.Genji looked up at the path he was following, the steep trail going all the way up the mountain until trees blocked it from his sight. There was nothing pointing to civilization; no lights, no buildings, no people. Just darkness and trees, and cold nothingness that made him shiver beneath his armour.Looking down at his feet, Genji took a deep but raspy breath before speaking again, an unamused chuckle leaving his sore throat.“What if I don't want to survive?”Genji had expected a long silence, and then, perhaps, sympathy from the strange omnic; something along the lines of “I’m sorry to hear that”, or a typical “You have so much left to live for.”He wasn’t prepared for the omnic to return a chuckle of his own.“Then I'd have to say you're lying,” he said, his voice certain. “I can sense your fear, and I doubt that I'm the cause. I'm not very intimidating, so I've been told.”Genji finally turned around to face the monk, who had his head tilted slightly as he regarded the cyborg. Genji felt annoyed at that.He was still hesitant if he wanted anything to do with this omnic. He’d just met him, there was no way he would trust him this easily. However, he couldn’t deny the slight pull he felt towards him, something in his mind urging him to follow the monk and accept his aid.It only annoyed Genji further.“I can ease some of your pain, if you wish,” the omnic spoke up again, once he’d realized Genji wasn’t going to respond to his previous statement.The monk received another unseen glare, hidden behind the green visor. “Yeah? And how would you do that?”Unfolding his hands from their position on his lap, the omnic reached for one of the nine orbs that were spinning in a circle around him. He cradled it in both hands for a few seconds, the golden light brightening in response, before letting it go once again. It darted off towards Genji, who tensed and assumed a defensive stance, flinching when he habitually moved his malfunctioning arm to rest on the sheath of his wakizashi again.As if detecting his tension, the orb moved a bit slower, and eventually came to rest somewhere above Genji’s left shoulder. Suddenly, as if sliding into a warm bath, Genji’s muscles relaxed and he found himself able to breathe with less difficulty; he no longer felt like he was burning up from the inside.He stood up straight once again and looked at the orb in wonder, letting his eyes trail the intricate design for a few seconds before turning back towards the omnic. He’d tilted his head again.“This is only a temporary solution. To properly heal you, you need warmth and a place to rest.” Genji could almost hear the smile in his voice. “May I suggest the Shambali monastery?”Genji glanced up at the golden orb once again, entranced by the bright glow.Golden. Like father’s dragon. Like the light he saw when Hanzo killed him. Like the colour of Angela’s healing.Golden…“Fine.”The word had left Genji’s lips almost subconsciously. The omnic seemed the slightest bit startled, like he hadn’t actually expected him to agree, and Genji felt a slight bit of pride in that.The omnic started walking – or no, hovering, still – and Genji slowly followed behind him. The orb stayed above him as he walked, and although it lessened his pain, it didn’t stop Genji from feeling the discomfort that moving caused him. His legs felt heavy, and he was still clumsily slipping through the snow with too much difficulty. He wrapped his arms around himself miserably.The monk didn’t urge him on, adapting to Genji’s slow stumble and staying by his side.“My name is Zenyatta,” the omnic broke the silence after a long while. “May I know yours?”Had Genji even wanted to know the monk’s name? He was fine with just calling him ‘omnic’, but now that he had a name in mind it would make things more complicated. Genji didn’t know others; others didn’t know Genji. It was just how it usually went. It was easier that way.Zenyatta hummed. A useless noise for an omnic to make. “Or do you not have one?”“Of course I have a name. It's Genji,” the cyborg snarled before thinking, scoffing to himself afterwards. Too late to regret it now.Head tilted once more, Zenyatta raised two fingers in a peace sign. “Is a pleasure to meet you, Genji.”Genji doubted that was true.The walk went on in complete silence, and there was a humming in Genji’s head that seemed to get louder and louder with every step he took. His vision kept fading in and out, and he was tempted to turn the warning signs back on just to have something to focus on.Genji opened his mouth with the plan to ask Zenyatta how much farther they had to go, but no words managed to come out. Or had they? Zenyatta had turned to look at him, and perhaps he was talking, but Genji couldn’t hear anything but the humming in his head.He couldn’t feel that he was standing anymore, and his legs abruptly stopped moving. How did you walk again? Zenyatta looked hazy, distant, and he still couldn’t hear him over the humming. Genji barely registered that he was falling, and he’d lost consciousness before he hit the ground.-Genji awoke to a golden light.His eyelids felt heavy, and he wanted nothing more than to close them again, but as he glanced around he realized that he had no idea where he was.He bolted upright, reaching for his wakizashi only to have his hand uselessly grab the air. He tried for his ōdachi instead, but his trusty katana was missing as well. Whoever had taken him had made sure to confiscate his weapons, leaving him powerless.Genji was relieved to find that his shuriken were still stored safely in his armour; he’d have to take comfort in that. Perhaps the person who’d captured him was unaware of them.He stood up from the cot he’d been placed on and silently walked around the room. The golden light he’d seen upon waking was the light from the sun, which was visible through the window. Outside, all Genji could see were the snowy mountains in the distance.Where on earth was he? What had happened?The room was quite bare; the cot and a small table were the only pieces of furniture, and there were some cloths in the very corner. The rest of the room was empty.Genji soundlessly made his way towards the door, which was just a curtain covering the frame, and was about to step outside when the curtain moved. He leaped back instantly, first reaching for his missing wakizashi before correcting himself and readying his shuriken. He kept close to the ground, ready to dash forward, and the green lights on his body dimmed automatically.As soon as someone pushed past the curtain, Genji threw his shuriken, expecting the sound of them hitting flesh.
Thud, thud, thud.
An omnic..?All three shuriken had found their way into the omnic’s wide pants, clinking against the metal underneath. He didn’t even seem slightly inconvenienced.“Genji, you're awake.”Genji startled a little. “Who are you? How do you know my name? Where am I?”The omnic laughed in response. Genji readied another set of shuriken.“Oh my, I see you are quite disoriented,” he spoke, tilting his head. “My name is Tekhartha Zenyatta. We met a few days ago, and I brought you here so I could heal you.”“Zenyatta..” the name sounded familiar, and his eyes widened when he finally remembered. Zenyatta, the omnic monk who’d taken him to the monastery to heal him.Genji sheathed his shuriken and slowly stood back up, his lights returning to their normal brightness.“I remember,” he said quietly, bowing to Zenyatta as a vague apology for attacking him. “But.. ‘a few days ago’? How..?”“I'm afraid you were unconscious for a while. Not only were you wounded, but you were exhausted, dehydrated, and very close to succumbing to starvation,” Zenyatta explained, finally entering the room. Genji now noticed he was carrying a tray in his lap, with what looked like a bowl of soup on it, and he placed it on the small table in the middle of the room.Genji tried to run a system check, waiting for the information to appear on the display of his visor, only to realize with a start that he wasn’t wearing it. How had he not noticed before?Almost as if he was reading his mind, Zenyatta hummed and walked over to the cot, reaching underneath it and presenting the visor. “I apologize, I had to remove it because I couldn't tell if you were conscious.”Genji slowly stepped closer and accepted the visor, replacing it on his face. The results from the system check were displayed, and Genji found that he had no injuries, nor were any of his synthetics damaged anymore.“I've put your weapons aside as well,” Zenyatta said, mentioning to the cloths in the corner. Sure enough, when Genji unwrapped the blankets, both his wakizashi and ōdachi were safely stored inside. It seemed Zenyatta had been careful not to damage them in any way, which was surprising but not unwelcome.Genji sheathed both his weapons and – avoiding Zenyatta’s gaze – headed towards the door. “I must leave.”“You must?” came the almost amused response. Genji ignored him, pushing through the curtain and heading down a small hallway. He finally stopped when he reached an open area. There were a lot of omnics around, and even some humans, Genji noticed. He quickly stepped back into the hallway he’d come from, glancing around for another route. Perhaps he could scale a wall.Zenyatta had appeared beside him, watching wordlessly, his hands folded neatly on his lap. His orbs were slowly circling him, making soft jingling sounds every now and then, which Genji would find relaxing in any other situation than the one he was in now.“Why are there so many people here?” Genji mumbled, more to himself than to Zenyatta. The omnic answered regardless.“This is a monastery. Did you expect us to be alone?”Genji folded his arms and scoffed, sulking quietly. A childish habit, according to Angela.Whatever. He could just push past the monks and head down the mountain again, no problem. He’d be gone from this place in no time, and he could go back to wandering on his own.“Japanese, correct?” Zenyatta asked suddenly, right when Genji was about to start walking again.“What?” he asked, confused.“Your name and accent.”“…”Zenyatta hummed softly, placing his hand to his chin in a thinking motion. “I've always wanted to go to Japan. I hear the people are very friendly to human and omnic alike.”Genji gave Zen a glare before turning away, looking out into the open monastery space again. Some omnics had spotted him, and he felt uncomfortable in their stares, so he turned and started down the other end of the hallway. Zenyatta followed him.“How did you end up in the Himalayas, then?” he asked. “That's quite a ways to travel on your own.”Overwatch crossed his mind, and his chest clenched painfully. “What does it matter?”“I suppose it doesn't. I was only curious. My brother travels a lot, but he rarely tells me of them.”Genji let out a huff and stopped walking, finally turning around to face Zenyatta.“What are you doing?” he asked rudely, crossing his arms again.Zenyatta observed Genji for a moment longer before admitting, “Distracting you so you don't leave.”That.. wasn’t the answer Genji had expected.“W-What? Why?”The omnic tilted his head. “Because I don't want you to. I want you to stay.”Genji looked away from Zenyatta, but the omnic’s words echoed through his head, his chest clenching with a feeling Genji couldn’t quite place. From the corner of his eyes, Genji could see that Zenyatta was still looking straight at him. Slowly, Genji raised his eyes from the floor.“Someone like me has no right to be here,” he spoke quietly. It was hard to maintain eye contact with Zen, but Genji fought the urge to look away again, not wanting to allow Zen to read his emotions so easily. He was glad to have his visor again, but with every move he made, it felt like the omnic was reading his body language; it was like he was trying to find out what Genji was thinking and feeling during all their conversations.“This monastery is a home for all who need it,” Zenyatta explained simply. He gestured around him, as if to emphasize that yes, this was a home, and you are welcome.Genji, however, just shook his head. “Then I don't need it. Now leave me alone.”When Genji finally broke eye contact, it was because he’d turned away from him once again. He headed down the hallway one final time before simply crossing the open space, ignoring the staring of omnics and humans around him. Genji just wanted to get out of here, get back to traveling alone, and if that meant being uncomfortable for a few minutes then so be it.The ‘Shambali Monastery’, as Zenyatta had called it before, was way bigger than Genji had first expected. Every corner he turned, there was another room filled with statues and omnics, and even as he finally stepped out into the cold, morning air, he could see he still had a long walk to go – down a big flight of stairs, the buildings continued shamelessly, filling up the entire mountainside.Genji let out a deep sigh before starting his descent down the stairs. He looked behind him once to see Zenyatta was no longer following him, and he decided to ignore the disappointment he suddenly felt.When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he was saddened to see that this was the start of a busy village; there were more humans around than there’d been up in the monastery, including young children that were throwing snowballs at each other, running around happily.The sun was starting to disappear behind thick clouds, and Genji already missed the warm, golden rays from before. He could feel the wind begin to pick up, and with another sigh, he fastened his pace through the mountain village. As he passed, the children stopped their snowball fight to gape at him. Genji did his best to ignore the pointing fingers, and cries for parents. He started jogging.With his newfound motivation to get out of here, Genji reached the end of the village in only a couple of minutes, and most humans had retreated into their homes (‘Because of the weather,’ Genji reassured himself. ‘They went inside to seek shelter from the worsening weather, not to hide from me.’)Sure enough, the wind had picked up to the point where it was pushing harshly against Genji’s body, snow flying up from the ground and covering his footsteps behind him. Subconsciously, Genji slowed to a halt right when he reached the village’s gates. He willed his body to move, but his legs refused to cooperate, so Genji was left blankly staring at the path ahead of him.He didn’t know for how long he stood there, but a warning popped up in his visor to warn him of his rapidly dropping body temperature. Would Genji even be able to make it down the mountain? Granted, he was unwounded now, but it was quite a ways down regardless, and it didn’t look like the weather was clearing up anytime soon; it was getting worryingly dark, but when Genji checked his internal clock, it told him it was only noon.“Still here, I see.”Genji startled a little and turned to see Zenyatta floating behind him. He’d sounded amused, and his posture (tilted head, hands pressed together, flickering lights on his faceplate) confirmed this fact. Genji didn’t know how to respond – because the omnic was right, of course – so he stayed quiet.“Genji, what's keeping you from staying here?” Zenyatta asked gently, all amusement gone now. “Do you have somewhere you need to be?”For the millionth time that day, Overwatch crossed his mind, turning his attitude bitter again. “Not anymore.”“Then why not stay here for a while?”Genji scoffed, glaring at Zenyatta underneath his visor.“I already told you, I don't belong here,” he repeated harshly. “Why do you even care?”Zenyatta didn’t seem deterred, humming gently. “You have been through many hardships. I can sense your discord, young one, and I want to help.”Genji had already opened his mouth to tell him to fuck off, but he froze before he could talk, diverting his eyes to the snow blowing over his feet. Help. He hadn’t heard that word in ages. He repeated it a couple of times in his head, trying to recall the last person who’d told him they wanted to help him.
I want you to check in with me daily. I’m here to help you, Genji, but I can’t do that if you keep refusing it.
“Stay until tomorrow, at the least.” Zenyatta’s voice brought him back from his memories. “There is a storm coming and I would feel more at ease knowing you're safe.”Genji screwed his eyes shut, hating himself for feeling sadness overwhelm him. He didn’t deserve a safe place to stay; someone like him was meant to be alone. Time and time again, this fact turned out to be true – with his brother, with Overwatch. Being alone was just.. less painful in the long run.A golden light behind Genji’s closed eyelids made him open them again, looking up to see one of Zen’s orbs had found its way above Genji’s shoulder like it had yesterday. The feeling almost brought him to tears, but he quickly blinked them away before they could fall.“One night,” he said quietly. “I'll stay until tomorrow, but then I'll leave."Zenyatta tilted his head, a gesture Genji would later learn is his way of smiling. “One night it is.”